The cost of fruit, vegetables, meat, chicken, fish, eggs, grains, nuts and most packaged groceries are rising. This can make it more difficult to plan healthy meals that fit the budget.
The many reasons for the price increases include floods and other disasters in many areas where vegetables, nuts and some fruits are grown. As well as ingredients, all kinds of packaging as well as increased transport costs have risen dramatically. And let’s not forget that labour shortages due to Covid outbreaks continue to impact prices for all goods and services.
To complicate matters, some politicians and think tanks are calling for a GST to be applied to foods that are currently exempt. That could have big impacts on household budgets, but it’s a topic that needs a whole article so I’ll leave it for another time.
For now, let’s look at some tactics that could help reduce the food budget.
Reduce waste
Australians waste massive amounts of food. Some is wasted on farm, some (although less than previously) is discarded at point of sale and food service in cafés, restaurants and institutions leads to large losses. However, we can’t blame others because current figures show that 2.5 million tonnes of food waste comes directly from homes.
Food waste is also a massive waste of land, and also water resources. In Australia, more than 25 million hectares of land is used to grow food that is not consumed.
The yearly cost of food waste to the economy is $36.6 billion. The Australian Government’s Food Waste Strategy Feasibility Study 2021 reported a cost for the average household of $2000-$2500 a year.
The top five wasted items are vegetables, bread, fruit, salads and leftovers from dinner plates.
How to reduce your food waste
- Organise your fridge, freezer and pantry so you use what you have in stock and shop appropriately.
- Cook only what you need. That may be what will be consumed at that meal, or may include deliberately cooking enough for leftovers to use the following day. Leftovers can also be labelled and many items can be frozen for future use.
- Avoid plate waste by serving smaller portions or placing serving dishes on the table so that people take only what they need. Any leftovers in serving dishes can then be used (as in the previous point).
- Think ahead; for example, use chicken bones and appropriate vegetable or herb stalks or offcuts to make stock for soups, risotto or other dishes.
- Deliberately plan to minimise waste in your household. This is ‘inbuilt’ for those of us who do not have a garbage service.
Be flexible with ingredients
A shopping list makes sense so you avoid unplanned or impulse purchases. However, a shopping list also needs to accommodate alternatives according to prices as well as recognising that many fruits and vegetables are seasonal. In season, they taste better and are usually a better price.
Some wise changes
- Grow your own vegetables, and especially your own herbs. Most of us in rural areas have space for a garden, but pots are also useful, especially for herbs like lemon balm, oregano and mint that can overrun a vegie patch. There’s a bonus for those with children. Dozens of studies show that children who are exposed to a vegie garden (their own, family, school or community) are much more likely to eat vegetables.
- Know what is in season (another benefit of having a home garden). There’s not much point buying fresh tomatoes during winter when they are pricey and lacking in flavour. Most people accept that mangoes and stone fruits are in season in summer, but with more imported fruits, remember to check the origin. With a staple fruit like oranges, remember that navel oranges are in season in winter in Australia whereas summer is the season for Valencias. Navels sold in Australia in summer are imported – and more expensive than the local Valencias. In blind taste tests, sweet Valencias usually score highly, but some people will choose imported and expensive navels because the skin is a brighter orange colour. The greenish colour on orange skins in summer is a natural activation of the chlorophyll in the skin. It does not affect the sweetness.
- If you eat meat, reduce the portion size (the Heart Foundation recommends no more than 300g a week). Winter is also a good time to choose cheaper cuts that are good for slow-cooked casseroles.
- Legumes are an excellent choice, highly nutritious and reasonably priced. You can use them to replace some of the meat in bolognaise sauce, casseroles and burgers, but legumes are also great as a complete substitute for meat. Some need soaking before cooking. Others, such as different varieties of lentils, cook quickly. Canned chick peas, black beans and lentils are an excellent buy and highly nutritious. Choose those with no additives, including no added salt.
- Make your own hummus using a can of drained chick peas, some garlic, lemon juice and a dash of extra virgin olive oil. Top with toasted sesame seeds. If you’re looking for something different, google a recipe for meringues or Pavlova made from the liquid drained from canned chick peas. It works!
- Check out frozen vegetables. In Australia, most frozen vegetables have no additives. They’re also frozen within hours of being picked with excellent retention of their vitamins. When fresh vegies are expensive, they can be a fraction of the price.
- Canned vegetables also have some advantages with tomatoes the stand-out choice. They’re not only useful added to casseroles, sauces and soups, they also offer a nutritional advantage. One of the most important carotenoids, lycopene, is absorbed better from canned (or cooked) tomatoes compared with raw. Longer and larger studies have watered down some of the early claims about lycopene and prostate cancer, but lycopene remains a potent antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties that play a role in reducing the risk of many common health problems.
- Use rolled oats for breakfast. Home-brand oats are a fraction of the cost of most packaged breakfast cereals – and much more nutritious. Regular oats and the thinly sliced quick cook varieties have similar overall nutritional value, but the slower digestion that occurs with regular oats results in lower blood glucose levels. To save time in the morning, soak oats overnight using a cup each of milk and water with each cup of oats. Refrigerate overnight and next morning, bring to the boil and cook for about a minute. Even if you top porridge with a little honey or dark brown sugar, the total sugar content is a fraction of that in most packaged cereals.
Dr Rosemary Stanton OAM